Wilmington News Journal examines nursing shortage in DE

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From the Wilmington News Journal: Wilmington News Journal Examines Nursing Shortage In Delaware

The Wilmington News Journal on Tuesday published two articles about the state's looming nursing shortage. Summaries appear below.

Nursing school: The News Journal examined how the lack of qualified faculty at nursing schools in the state contributes to a bottleneck of nursing students. According to the Delaware Health Care Commission, there were 3,440 students enrolled in nursing schools throughout the state as of 2006. The state has created a nursing incentive program to encourage more students to pursue nursing, but only about 50% of nursing students are able to enter the clinical program immediately after finishing their college-level prerequisite. Betty Paulanka, dean of the College of Health Sciences at the University of Delaware, said, "With the faculty shortage, we can't manage any more students than we have," adding, "We only take the number of students that we know we can handle, and we work hard to figure out what those numbers are. The classrooms are really full" (Ratnayake [1], Wilmington News Journal, 9/30).


Shortage: The U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration estimates that Delaware will have a shortage of more than 3,000 nurses by 2010 unless significant changes are made, the News Journal reports.Several factors contribute to the shortage. Many nurses in the state are nearing retirement age and young nurses might leave the profession because of challenges in the field or other career opportunities. In addition, nursing schools in the state are unable to produce enough new nurses and some schools have admissions waiting lists. An aging state population also contributes to the problem. The News Journal reports that every Delaware hospital has unfilled positions for registered nurses. Penny Seiple, president of the Delaware Nurses Association, said that, compared with the national shortage of nurses, Delaware has been "very lucky," adding, "Right now, we're doing better than a lot of other states. But unless we do things to make our environment better, it's going to be difficult to keep up with the need." Nurses have said they are concerned that quality of care will be affected if the shortage is not addressed soon (Ratnayake [2], Wilmington News Journal, 9/30).